


Brothers & Sisters

by conceptstage



Series: Single Chapter Critical Role [45]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 16:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18595285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conceptstage/pseuds/conceptstage
Summary: Beau has a crisis and Caleb is the only one around to help.For Beauweek Thursday prompts: family ties/ hurt & comfort





	Brothers & Sisters

“Do you have any siblings?”

Caleb frowned over his mug but Beau avoided his eyes, staring down at the peanut shell that she was picking apart with her fingernails. “Ah, nein,” he said, instead of asking the question that was on a the tip of his tongue. If Beau had a reason for asking something like this, she would probably say it at some point.

“Nine? Nine siblings?” she teased. 

He huffed and rolled his eyes. That joke would never get old it seemed. “No, nein, I have no siblings. We were very poor, my parents could hardly afford one child, nine was out of the question.”

Beau brushed the shredded shell off onto the floor and picked up another one, almost like she didn’t realize what she was doing. She bit her lip and started tearing into the shell. “I have a brother.”

He hesitated, waiting for her continue, but nodded when she didn’t. “Ja. You do.”

As he watched, he saw panic start to rise on her face. “I have a baby brother. Holy shit, I’m a big sister.” She dropped the shell onto the table and ran her fingers through her hair nervously, thoughtlessly pulling it out of the hair tie to fall in her face. 

“Beau, Beau,” he started, reaching over to gently grab her wrist and get her attention. She twisted her hand around in his and held his fingers tightly in her own, squeezing nervously. “What’s going on? Why are you freaking out about this now?” He started looking around for the others, someone who might be better at dealing with whatever breakdown she was clearly teetering on the edge of, but none of them were anywhere to be seen.

“I don’t know how to be a sister, man. And I’m over twenty years older than him, I’m old enough to be his mother, what do I do with that? Am I supposed to be his sister or am I supposed to be a grown up? But then how the fuck do grown ups act, I’m not ready to be a grown up! Babies are so small, what if I break him? Oh my god, what do I do?” Her voice was low and rushed and full of panic. She looked at him like she expected him to have an answer and he just blinked blankly at her. “Caleb!”

“I don’t know! Stop squeezing my hand, you’re going to pop my fingers off.” She loosened her grip but didn’t stop holding his hand. 

“What if he needs me, Caleb?” she whispered and he barely heard her over the sounds of the tavern around them. “I’ve never been needed before, what if I do it wrong?”

“Beau, I do not know the perfect answer. I do not know how to help. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t move for several moments and then slipped her hand out of his, staring down at it on the table, and crossing her hands across her chest like she was embarrassed by her sudden show of emotion. “That’s fine. Sorry to drop all this shit on you all of a sudden, I shouldn’t have…” Her sentence drifted off and she leaned back in her chair, sighing before finally picking up her room temperature beer and knocking it back.

Caleb was still confused but nodded and watched her carefully. “What brought this on?” he asked again, pulling his hand down off the table and into his lap. “Why now?”

She frowned and swirled the beer around idly. “It’s his first birthday today. He’s been in this world for a year and his big sister hasn’t even bothered to meet him yet. If I found out now that I had someone who could have helped me when I was growing up in that house and they chose to do nothing… I’d hate that person. I don’t want my baby brother to hate me but I don’t want him turning out like me either.”

He waited for her to say something else but she didn’t continue. “Do you… Do you want to go visit him?”

Beau bit her lip nervously. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

He nodded. “Then we’ll go.”

“Really?”

“We became pirates for Fjord, we become enemies of the Empire for Nott, we can definitely swing by your parent’s house to check in on your baby brother.”

She chuckled and shrugged. “Being traitors and pirates might actually be easier than dealing with my parents, but yeah, I want to see him. I want him to know that I tried.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Beau continuing her mutilation of peanut shells. “For what it is worth, Beauregard,” Caleb started, not looking up at her. “I think you’ll be a great sister. That kid would be lucky to turn out like you.”

She smiled, a little reluctantly, and finished off her beer.


End file.
